The golf swing is very difficult for golfers to learn to do efficiently because of the large number of variables involved in hitting the ball correctly. The number of joints involved include those in the ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and the spine. Possible movements of these joints include rotation, flexion, extension, pronation, supination, adduction, and abduction. The permutations and combinations of these movements are obviously quite large; and the chance of the amateur golfer to perform them all correctly is obviously quite small. The most common undesirable manifestations of the amateur's problems are slicing (or the ball moving from left to right for a right handed golfer) and hooking (the ball moving from right to left for a right handed golfer).
In order to help the golfer avoid these problems, a variety of swing aids have been proposed. These include golf clubs with offsets or special designs in an effort to correct the unwanted shot; attachments to the club that attempt to help the golfer align the wrists and hinge properly at the top of the swing; clubs with hinged shafts to teach tempo; devices which stand behind the golfer to guide the shaft of the club on a proper plane back and through the ball. None have been completely successful.
It was an object of the inventors of this invention to study the fundamentals of the golf swing and, from this study, to arrive at a training device that would succeed in lowering the amateurs' score significantly.
The fundamentals of the modern golf swing basically include the following steps:
1. A stable lower body on the back swing; PA1 2. A shoulder turn (upper body) when taking the club back on the back swing; PA1 3. Keeping the arms and hands between the shoulders throughout the swing; PA1 4. Maintaining an active body on the forward swing; and PA1 5. Swinging the arms to the left of the target line and body at the completion of the swing. PA1 1. If the right arm comes above the left in the backswing, a slice will result. PA1 2. If the golfer brings the arms up and over the ball (called "coming over the top"), a slice will result. PA1 3. If the golfer raises the right elbow away from the body, loss of power and accuracy will result. PA1 4. If the golfer does not bend the right elbow during the swing, severe loss of power and, therefore, reduced distance will result. PA1 5. If the golfer swings the arms to the right on the follow-through, a hook will result. PA1 6. If the arms are not moved with the upper body, inaccuracies in trajectory will occur. PA1 7. If the golfer performs a combination of the above errors, his problems are multiplied several-fold. PA1 a. A length of elastic material, e.g., an elastic band, having a length and a width and two ends; PA1 b. anchoring means positioned at and secured to the hip of the right handed or left handed golfer and adapted to anchor one end of said elastic band; PA1 c. a sleeve fitted and sized for an elbow of the golfer's arm contralateral to the hip where the anchoring means is positioned and adapted for connection to the other end of the elastic band. PA1 1. A golfer would not be able to keep both arms straight in the backswing. As the club is taken back tension is produced on the elbow causing it to bend to the proper position. PA1 2. A golfer would not be able to come over the top. The tethering effect would keep the right arm from coming over the left arm. PA1 3. A golfer would not be able to raise the right elbow up and away from the body. The tension on the elbow would keep it in proper position.
In short, it was an object of this invention to provide a training device that would coordinate the movement of the arms (and therefore the hands) with the upper body.
When the upper body is not coordinated with the arms, a variety of swing errors and therefore trajectory errors can result. The following are examples of such errors (all for a right handed golfer):
It is the basic object of this invention to provide a device that will train the muscles of the golfer in a proper swing and allow him or her to feel the swing correctly and see the result of the proper swing.
The prior art is replete with devices to train the golfer in a proper swing. However, none have been successful.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,640 to Noblin discloses a golf swing training device wherein the arm is tethered with an nonelastic band which slides along the belt. This tends to restrict the backswing we are seeking and also tends to prevent the proper follow-through of the forward swing.
Boyte, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,214, similarly uses a belt to keep the arms in position but the band attached to the belt does not slide. This device has the same restrictions as Noblin on the forward swing and the backswing.
Picard in U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,365 attaches the elbow to the proximal hip. This serves to keep the elbow in but does not teach stretching between the left hip and hands in a manner that we believe a training device should function. By affixing to the contralateral hip and elbow, i.e., attached to the left hip and fixed at the right elbow, as discussed hereinafter, the student feels the tension increase as the distance increases between the two during the backswing. Since both hands are on the club head, the reaction of the right elbow tends to increase the distance between left hip and left shoulder, as well as between the left hip and the hands gripping the club.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,373, Richmon holds the left shoulder with an elastic band extending around the golfer's waist. Attachment is at the head of the femur. This is complex to secure and does not allow a firm fixation on the left hip, which is the anchor point for the swing. It further encourages an upward movement in the backswing, detrimental to a level swing.
Johnson's training device, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,690, holds both biceps together. This limits the distance between the left hip and the left shoulder. This distance would be greater if attached to the right elbow alone rather than bind both biceps together. Since Johnson attaches to the bicep, this distance is not maximized as it would be if attached to the elbow. Furthermore, fixation is more difficult and there would be a strong tendency for the Johnson device to slide up toward the shoulder. A device, anchored at the elbow would provide a more natural fixation point. Since the elbow would be distal to the bicep, such a device would provide more stretching of the left hip to left shoulder. Johnson's design encourages a turn. The object of our invention is to provide a swing that is substantially straight back. Furthermore, since the hip attachment is elastic in the Johnson device, the feel of increasing the distance between the left hip and left shoulder, an object of our invention, is not achieved.
Herridge, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,122 attached the bicep to the proximal hip and specifies that stretch not be applied in the backswing. This would make it much more difficult for the golfer to feel and would not teach stretching of the back. It is an objective of our invented device to encourage the proper motion, to compel the golfer to stretch the back. Furthermore, with our device, once the golfer achieves the proper backswing position, the length of elastic material can be replaced by a stiffer material to build the golfer's muscular strength for increased power and distance in the future.
Clark in U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,015, provides an apparatus wherein the chest, wrist and shoulder are all connected and the golfer is advised to raise the club above the head. This is precisely the type of swing, with an up and down motion, that should be avoided. It encourages an upward movement in the backswing with a high angle of contact and thus increases the risk of the golfer losing his balance and control.